BEIRUT — Hezbollah on Thursday rejected the latest ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and the Lebanese government, demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal. The announcement came as Israeli strikes killed at least four people, according to local authorities, and a U.N. peacekeeper was killed in the crossfire.
Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, in a written statement read on TV, said the agreement’s demand that Hezbollah fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would mean “surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy’s goals.”
“What we are concerned about is an end to the aggression, ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal,” he said. “We did not make any commitment to any party to stop resisting as long as there is occupation,” he added.
The ongoing fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit point for oil and gas whose closure has jolted the world economy.
Tehran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition for any peace deal with Washington, and has suggested in recent days that it could intervene directly in support of its proxy Hezbollah if Israel keeps up or escalates attacks there.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday the military would continue to strike in Lebanon for the time being and would not be withdrawing from the south.
The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, said the minimum demand would be for Israel to withdraw to positions held before the start of the war, Iranian state media reported.
